Notice by Design

The Notice by Design program applies human‐computer interaction research and experimentation to consumer problems such as online privacy. This widely-discussed research leverages legal expertise in privacy with post-graduate research in user interface design.

Ryan Calo is an assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Law and a former research director at CIS. A nationally recognized expert in law and emerging technology, Ryan's work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, Wired Magazine, and other news outlets. Ryan serves on several advisory committees, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and the Future of Privacy Forum. Read more » about Ryan Calo

Lauren is an experienced attorney, frequent speaker and start-up advisor who has worked in the field of Internet law and policy since 1995. She is the founder of BlurryEdge Strategies, a legal and strategy consulting firm located in San Francisco that advises technology companies and investors on cutting-edge legal issues. Read more » about Lauren Gelman

Woodrow Hartzog is an Assistant Professor at the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. His research focuses on privacy, human-computer interaction, online communication, and electronic agreements. He holds a Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an LL.M. in intellectual property from the George Washington University Law School, and a J.D. from Samford University. He previously worked as an attorney in private practice and as a trademark attorney for the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Read more » about Woodrow Hartzog

Aleecia M. McDonald's research focuses on the public policy issues of Internet privacy, and includes user expectations for Do Not Track, behavioral economics and mental models of privacy, and the efficacy of industry self regulation. She co-chaired, and remains active in, the WC3’s Tracking Protection Working Group, an ongoing effort to establish international standards for a Do Not Track mechanism that users can enable to request enhanced privacy online. Read more » about Aleecia McDonald

The Los Angeles Times quotes me over the weekend in its front page story about the use of a Predator B drone to catch a civilian suspect in North Dakota. In my comments, I allude to how the domestic use of drones may paradoxically help drag privacy law into the twenty-first century. Stanford Law Review Online just published my short article on this topic. You can find the full text here. Thoughts welcome. Read more » about To Catch With A Predator

Technology users are becoming frustrated over privacy-invasive terms of use agreements. In the past, this frustration was difficult to channel effectively enough to regularly change the terms. However, that futility is slowly abating. Users are increasingly attempting to negotiate the terms of their agreement through technology or a protracted exchange of public criticism and response. I would like to explain why a few recent developments leave me optimistic that a combination of resistance and innovation can offset some of the inequities in the standard-form contracts formed between users and websites. Read more » about Resisting Terms of Use, Or: The Revolution Will Not Be Boilerplate

Ryan Calo and I both recently recorded podcasts for the show Surprisingly Free, which is an excellent weekly podcast for anyone interested in law and technology. Ryan discusses the imminent rise of personal robots and I discuss the ubiquity of website terms of use.

Ryan Calo, Director of Privacy and Robotics, spoke with Somini Sengupta of the New York Times on the settlement between Facebook and the F.T.C. and how it was necessary for the upcoming I.P.O.

Accusing Facebook of engaging in "unfair and deceptive" practices, the federal government on Tuesday announced a broad settlement that requires the company to respect the privacy wishes of its users and subjects it to regular privacy audits for the next 20 years. Read more » about F.T.C. Settles Privacy Issue At Facebook

The Open Video Alliance is teaming up with the Harvard Berkman Center to deliver a global webcast of a talk by Lawrence Lessig. It's happening February 25th from 6:00 to 7:30 EST, live from Cambridge, MA. Along with the Cambridge event, OVA is hosting live webcast screenings around the world with special guests. The event hosted by the Stanford Fair Use Project will feature a live VJ mashup with Eclectic Method. Read more » about 2/25: Wireside Chat with Lawrence Lessig (featuring Eclectic Method)

Money makes the world go around... How does it affect consumer privacy on the Internet? In connection with Data Privacy Day 2010, the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School will host a panel on the relationship between privacy and company finances, open to students and the larger community. Panelists from Internet companies with different incentives and currently at different stages of monetization, as well as privacy experts, will discuss how monetary considerations operate to enhance or limit consumer privacy. Read more » about 1/26: Money & Privacy - Data Privacy Day panel

In online privacy today, notice is king. Notice is how we deal with the conflict between the preference of Internet companies to gather as much user data as possible and the rights of users to control their information. Notice is how California sought to deal with the problem of online privacy in 2003 when it passed the Online Privacy Protection Act. Notice continues to be the lynchpin of the Federal Trade Commission's campaign to secure meaningful self-regulation of the online advertising industry. The trouble is: notice isn't working. People don't read privacy policies. Read more » about 8/13: The Future of Notice (Webcast)